Attic Inscriptions Online

Decrees regulating the export of ochre from Keos

RO 40 Date:
mid-iv BC

Ll. 39-40, naming Athenians chosen (as envoys?), show that the texts of the decrees of the Kean cities were inscribed under the terms of an Athenian decree which was probably inscribed above the decree of Karthaia.

Decree 2 (Koresia) Theogenes proposed: the Council and People of the Koresians shall decide: concerning what those who have come from the Athenians say,
(10) the export of ochre (miltou)[2] shall be to Athens . . . as it was previously; and so that [the previous decrees of the Athenians] and the Koresians about the
ochre may be valid, it shall be exported in a vessel that the Athenians may specify, and in no other
vessel; and the producers (ergazomenous) shall pay an obol per talent shipping charge to the
shippers (nauklērois); and if anyone exports it in any other vessel, he shall be liable . . . ;
(15) and to inscribe this decree on a stone stele and [set it down] . . . of Apollo; and the law as it was previously is to be valid; and information is to be reported (endeixin) to the city commissioners (astunomous); and the city commissioners are to put [a case
about it to the vote] in court within [thirty] days; and to the one who exposes (phēnanti) or reports information (endeixanti)[3] . . . of the halves; and if it is a slave who reports information, if he belongs to the exporters, he shall be free and shall receive
(20) a third portion (?); and if he belongs to anyone else, he shall be free and . . . ;
and he who exposes or reports information shall have right of appeal to Athens; and if the Athenians decree anything else
about the securing (phulakēs) of the ochre, what has been decreed shall be valid once received;
and the producers shall pay the two per cent tax (pentēkostēn)[4] to the collectors of the two
percent tax; and to invite the Athenians to hospitality in the city hall tomorrow.

Decree 3 (Ioulis)(25) The Council and People of the Ioulietans decided: concerning what those who have come from Athens say,
the Council and People of the Ioulietans shall decide that the export of ochre shall be to Athens,
and nowhere else, from this day forward; and if anyone exports it anywhere else, the vessel and its
cargo shall be public property; and the one who exposes or reports information[3] shall have half;
and if the informant is a slave, he shall be free and . . . (30) he shall have a share of [- and of?] the cargo; and he who exports ochre from Keos shall export
it in a vessel that the Athenians specify; and if anyone exports it in another vessel, he shall be liable . . . and if the Athenians decree anything else about the securing of the ochre . . . what the Athenians decree shall be valid; and there is to be exemption from taxes . . . from the month Hermaion; and to invite the Athenians to hospitality in the city hall;
(35) and information shall be reported at Athens to the [Eleven, and at Ioulis?] the presiding officers (prostatas) [shall be responsible for introducing the case?]; and as many as are deemed to have exported [illegally, half their cargo] shall belong to the People of the Ioulietans, half to [the exposer]; and the Council shall inscribe
this decree and set it down in the harbour.

The following were chosen: Andron of Kerameis, Lysia- . . . (40) of Phlya, Euphrosynos of Paiania.

[1] This inscription, which cannot be dated precisely, documents the enforcement by Athens of a monopoly on the supply of ochre (miltos, sometimes translated “ruddle”) from Keos, illuminating the economic aspects of Athenian imperialism under the Second Athenian League. On the political background of Athenian relations with this island (modern Kea), which lies close to the south-eastern coast of Attica, see RO 39 with notes. Missing from the top of the inscription is an Athenian decree, which must have provided for the inscription of the decrees of the Kean cities and for the election of (perhaps) envoys to Keos to take some kind of follow-up action (ll. 39-40, unless these are the envoys who negotiated the arrangements specified in the Kean decrees). Of the four cities of Keos, there is no decree of Poiessa. There may have been one in the missing top section, but Poiessan territory lacks sources of ochre, and Poiessa tended to operate somewhat independently of the other cities (cf. RO 22 ll. 82 and 119-22), so it may be that it was not included here. Ochre from Keos was the best according to Theophrastos, On Stones 8.51-5, and yellow and purple as well as red ochre were available there (E. Photos-Jones et al., ABSA 92, 1997, 359-72). A similar emphasis on securing supply is observable in Athens’ regulation of the grain supply (compare the law requiring Athens-based grain merchants to supply only to Athens, Dem. 34.37, 35.51, Lyk. 1.27, cf. RO 26 with notes) and by preventing export elsewhere there may also have been an intention to reduce demand and so lower prices for Athenian buyers at the expense of Kean producers. We do not know whether there was an official ochre price fixed by the Athenians (as in some circumstances there was for grain), though it is a possible corollary of the arrangements documented here. Though the essentials of the measures taken to impose the monopoly by the different cities are the same, they differ in some details, presumably reflecting differing local circumstances and legal frameworks. It is notable that the inscription documents one in an ongoing series of measures relating to this trade. There were pre-existing decrees on the subject, at least as regards Koresia (ll. 11-12, a law is referred to at l. 16); Athenian envoys had patently "encouraged" the Keans to take the measures recorded here (they are invited to hospitality by the Keans at ll. 5, 24, 34); and now perhaps a further group of Athenian envoys is to be sent (ll. 39-40, if these are not the envoys mentioned in the Kean decrees).[2] Ochre (miltos) was a mineral (red ochre was iron oxide mixed with clay and sand) used to colour e.g. pottery, building stones, ropes (Ar. Acharnians 21-22, Assemblywomen 378-79), triremes (Hdt. 3.58) and for medical purposes (Dioskorides, De Mat. Med. 5.96, 126 sect. 5). The Eleusinian accounts of 329/8 document expenditure on miltos of 14 dr. 3½ ob., 7 dr. and 2 dr. 3 ob. in three separate prytanies, the price varying between 3 dr. and 3½ dr./stater (just over 100 g). The one supplier recorded is non-Athenian. The red ochre from Orkos in north-east Keos (close to the border between Ioulis and Karthaia) had especially good staining power. Ochre was available in Attica from the mines of Laurion, but it seems from this inscription that it was not of sufficient quantity or quality to meet Athenian demand.[3]Phasis (exposure) and endeixis (reporting) are terms used for the laying of incriminating information before authorities; phasis normally relates to objects, endeixis to persons. R. Osborne in V. Hunter and J. Edmondson, Law and Social Status in Classical Athens (2001), 75-92, shows that, at Athens, the offer of freedom to slave informers was limited to religious offences. Here, however, freedom and material incentives are offered to slaves for reporting on breaches of these commercial regulations, including by their masters, a measure potentially highly subversive of the normal social order, and (assuming that this arrangement was effectively imposed by Athens) indicative of the extent to which Athens was prepared to go to pursue its advantage in allied cities.[4] At Athens a 2% tax (pentekoste) was levied on imports and exports (P. Fawcett, Hesp. 85, 2016, 159-64). Since the tax is levied here on the producers it seems likely that what is at issue is an equivalent tax payable on exports from Koresia, rather than the tax payable on imports to Athens. It is notable that this cost is to be loaded onto Kean producers rather than the (perhaps usually Athens-based) shippers. If ll. 33-34 also relate to the export tax, it would seem that Ioulis adopted a different approach, granting its producers freedom from the tax (and thereby a competitive advantage over Koresian producers?).